CELLULOID BURNING

The end of the year means Christmas Trees, presents and a lot of cheap champagne. For the film fans out there this means end of the year Top 10 lists (we did ours already check it out HERE). When someone has a bit of extra time on their hands, maybe a Worst 10 list. This being the beginning of a new decade, a couple enterprising people on the net thought it may be a good time to list the Top 10 movies of the decade. We, unfortunately, are not that enterprising… or smart… and since we plan on doing a different Top 10 list every week from now until the world ends (which wikipedia says will be in 2 years), we thought the best way to kick off 2010 our way was this: The Top 10 Criminally Underrated Movies of the Decade.

For some reason the movies below have largely been forgotten, didn’t have a wide (if it even had) a theatrical release, didn’t make a lot of money (in the US) and are movies that most people have never heard of. In spite of all of this, and maybe because of it, these movies deserve your attention. They are all one of a kind, interesting and (most importantly) entertaining as all hell. I downright love these movies and hope you do too.

Let the countdown begin…

10. Stardust (2007)

This movie had quite possibly one of the worst marketing campaigns in recent memory. After watching the trailer below I had no interest in seeing the movie at all. It took a couple of threats to my very existence from a couple good friends before I gave the movie a try… boy was I surprised. Stardust is an enchanting fairy tale along the same vein as The Princess Bride…minus the “present day” Wonder Years stuff. The movie is about a falling star (Claire Danes), the group of witches who are after her (led by Michelle Pfeiffer) and the dashing hero (Nathaniel Parker) who saves the girl at the end. Along the way Parker learns how to sword fight on a floating boat by a flaming sea/air captain (Robert De Niro) and has a duel with a dead body… if this doesn’t convince you nothing will.

9 Kingdom of Heaven – Director’s Cut (DVD 2006)

The theatrical version of Kingdom of Heaven was released in 2005 to a universal blah from critics and movie goers alike. I saw it and felt that the movie was just off. It seemed like it was reaching for something just out of its grasp. What it was reaching for is present in the director’s cut of the film, which runs over 45 minutes longer than the theatrical release at 192 minutes. The director’s cut just plain plays better. The relationship between the son (Orlando Bloom) and father (Liam Neeson) is given room to breathe and develop, a significant character and character arc is now included that adds to the richness of the overall experience and much much more. While the movie still isn’t perfect, it’s now touches greatness and is a truly engrossing experience (in spite of Orlando Bloom’s acting).

8. Femme Fatale (2002)

I just finished a sentence bagging on Orlando Bloom’s acting… Rebecca Romijn’s acting is 100 times worse, yet this movie is one slot higher on the list. The reason is Brian De Palma. Now, Brian De Palma is a polarizing filmmaker. Some think that he is an auteur and a cinematic genius while others make the argument that he was the Tarantino of the 80’s. I think he is a blend of the two… I like to have my cake and eat it too. De Palma does borrow heavily from Hitchcock but he also manages to make it his own. All great directors borrow, but most sample from many more sources. Now back to Femme Fatale, which was made a good 10 years after the director’s peak. This film may be De Palma’s most De Palmaian film (aka the least Hitchcockian). It’s a steamy erotic thriller unlike anything the director had done before, yet still familiar stylistically in step with De Palma’s body of work. Femme Fatale is a cinematic tour de force where the film is far more than the sum of its parts. The direction is the true star, from the opening heist where no dialogue happens is said for 20 minutes down to the super slow-mo finale where it all comes together perfectly.

7. One Night in Mongkok (2004)

I am a huge fan of Hong Kong cinema and One Night in Mongkok is a hidden gem known only to the truly hardcore HK film fans. The director, Derek Yee, is one of the very best directors in the area making a host of great movies like Lost in Time, Viva Erotica and C’est les Vie Mon Cheri. One Night in the Mongkok is a gritty, hardcore thriller staring Asian heartthrob Daniel Wu as a hired killer from China who is in Hong Kong to kill some random person and look for his lost love at the same time. Cecilia Cheung (who was a rising star before pictures her unmanicured private parts surfaced [google it]) is a prostitute that shows Wu around… for a fee. Also, let’s not forget the cops who are after them who have a bunch of serious problems themselves. All the while, Wu and Cheung form a strange but touching bond before it all goes to hell. And believe me, it all goes to hell.

6. High Fidelity (2000)

Picking a favorite John Cusack movie is like choosing a favorite stripper… ok maybe not that hard. Cusack has had a varied and amazing film career (and a forth coming Cusack Top 10 list). High Fidelity presents Cusack, possibly, at his best and most heartfelt. This is one of the most honest stories about love and relationships I have ever seen. There are no star-crossed lovers, no love eternal and no running down the street in the last reel because someone just realized they loved the other. What you have in High Fidelity is Cusack at a point in his life where he realized he has given up on his dreams and settled for merely what was there, love-wise and career-wise. So what does he do? What else but look up the 5 most memorable women who dumped him and find out why. Much like the dude who bought a Porche when he turned 40, it sounds nice on the surface but at best it just masks the problems. There are no easy solutions in life or love. All you can do is take stock of your options, choose wisely and hope for there’s a happy ending. High Fidelity articulates this and so much more.

5. Running on Karma (2003)

Running on Karma is a weird movie. You put the elements on paper and there is no way it should work… but for some reason it does. The movie is about a former monk and current body builder living in Hong Kong, staring Andy Lau (the Tom Cruise of Asia…before the whole couch thing) in a big fake rubber muscle suit. Lau is a special former monk that can see the karma of the people he meets. A persons karma dictates the life he/she will lead. He soon befriends a young cop, Cecilia Cheung, after she busts him while he is working in a strip club… yes again I say, he is a former Buddhist monk. Cheung has really bad karma and Lau sees that she is destined for a short life. Cheung decides to make the most of her time and try and work off some of the bad karma. In particular she sets out to hunt down the man that made Lau leave the Buddhist monastery. Did I mention that Andy Lau does martial arts, there is an Indian guy who fit himself in a small metal box and rooftop fight will a guy who can climb up walls like a spider? Like I said earlier, this movie is weird but it’s also so strangely affecting and challenging…in a good way. All the credit goes to director Johnnie To, whom besides being the best working filmmaker in Hong Kong is also my favorite living director. What makes him, and his work, so great is that he never does anything straight, he never does anything you expect him to do and he some how manages to surprise you in one way or another.

4. Wonder Boys (2000)

Director Curtis Hanson made Wonder Boys right in between two of his highest grossing movies, LA Confidential and 8 Mile, yet this film was virtually ignored at the box office. Wonder Boys is a case of a movie being so good, so quirky, so unique that a studio marketing department didn’t know how to market it… so they simply decide not to. Michael Douglas headlines an all-star cast as Grady Tripp, a pot smoking, once great writer who has spent the last 7 years struggling to write his next book. In the meantime he is getting a divorce, is having an affair with the Chancellor (Frances McDormand), befriends a trouble student and budding writer (Tobey Maguire) who shoot’s the Chancellor’s dog with a gun and looses a rare jacket once worn my Marylin Monroe all while his literary agent (Robert Downey Jr.) is hounding him for his new book. The movie is endlessly witty and entertaining with intriguing characters and across the board great acting.

3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

The best way to describe Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is that it is a comedic film noir that is pitch perfect in its respect for its genres. The movie is the directorial debut of long time screenwriter and high paid script doctor Shane Black. If this movie is any indication of the direction he wants to take with his career as a writer/director then count ourselves lucky. The script is witty, funny, perfectly structured and completely unpredictable. The best compliment I can give this movie is that if Billy Wilder was alive, he would be jealous he didn’t write and direct it himself. In the movie, Robert Downey Jr. plays a bumbling thief who evades a police officer by hiding in an audition where he is quickly labeled “the next big thing.” He comes to LA and works with a private investigator (Val Kilmer) to research a film part. Soon after he meets struggling actress, Michelle Monaghan. In his effort to impress her, he says he is really a PI and can help her solve the mystery of her sister’s death. The whole movie snowballs into a highly enjoyable comedic whodunit mess: guns are fired, people die and someone looses a finger.

2. Spartan (2004)

David Mamet is a national treasure… the Orson Welles of our times (and treated only slightly better). He is one of the greatest living playwrights of our time and in the medium of film (and TV) he has created some remarkably interesting work: The Verdict, The Untouchables, Glengarry Glen Ross, Wag the Dog and Ronin. However, it is his more personal work that is the most interesting and uncompromising, much of which has barely seen any kind of distribution: House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main and Redbelt. His 2004 film, Spartan, is a sight to behold. The movie stars Val Kilmer as high level Special Forces operative who is sent to locate the whereabouts of the President’s daughter by any means necessary…ANY MEANS NECESSARY. As the plot unfolds, there are twists and turns, everyone has an agenda, everyone has a secret and no one can be trusted. What makes the movie so great isn’t just the story (which is great and pulse pounding) but it’s the handling of the material. Mamet employs his trademark rhythmic and stilted dialogue style to create a new vernacular, a code that everyone speaks and perfectly understands. This allows Mamet to have virtually all the plot points and important story information to “exist between the lines.” For example it is never explicitly stated who Val Kilmer’s character is but you get very quickly by his actions and his persona that he has a has a secret identity, he plays by his own rules and that he has a code and a chain of command that he would die for. In addition, it is never stated who the men Val Kilmer is reporting to, but it’s clear that they are high ranking members of the White House and they will do anything to protect the man above him. All this creates a feeling in the audience that they are a fly on the wall and in on a secret of national importance. Spartan is a one of a kind film and you will never see another film like it.

1. Once (2006)

Once is a tiny, micro-budget musical from Ireland… yes Ireland. It was shot on inexpensive prosumer DV cameras and tells such a simple story that, even according to John Carney the director, “…You can write the synopsis on the back of a postage stamp.” The film is about a lowly street performer who meets a girl, kind of falls in love with her and she helps him make an album and realize his dream. He, in return, helps her reconnect with her passion (a little vague yes… but it is best to be experienced). What makes the movie great is the heart, the love, the passion and the soul put into the making of movie which creates magic that jumps off the screen. The key is the casting, director John Carney took a page from all the classic era musicals and chose REAL musicians in the leading roles… who woulda thunk it? Neither Glen Hansard nor Marketa Irglova had any previous acting experience but manage to give real and touching performances coupled with amazing vocals and instrumentals. The whole affair feels so intimate, so harmonious and above all so refreshing. Carney exercised restraint in his direction. He simply put the camera in front of two talented individuals and let them be great… and great they are. The music is simply amazing and I defy anyone to watch this movie and not feel the urge to buy the soundtrack (I bought it 5 minutes after finishing the movie). Do yourself a favor and watch this movie now.